Goals Part Three: Job

As we continue in our discussions of Goals and I have used the four areas I felt a need to set up goals in my life.  Of course the four areas I set up may not necessarily be the same four areas you feel you need you need for your life.   The third area I feel is important is my Job or in my case jobs as I have two.  I feel it is important for those who follow God to work hard for whoever they work for.  One of the best things for us, not just as people but as the church, to do is to bring a good light on us is to work hard, and show respect to our co-workers and bosses.  Peter tells us this in 1^st Peter 2:18-25; “You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters. Do whatever they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are harsh.  For God is pleased with you when, for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you.  This suffering is all part of what God has called you to. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps. He never sinned, and he never deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. You have been healed by his wounds! Once you were wandering like lost sheep. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.”  Replace slave with employee and master with employer and we see how this piece of scripture talks more directly to us than we thought it might. 

Peter encourages the people of God to work hard and bring glory to God through their work.  We must work to bring glory, not to us but to God.  So I have sat down and thought about this, what can I do to be a better worker.  I could go into detail and tell you what my plans are for my goals but instead I am going to talk about the importance of working hard and trying not to worry about what others do or get away with.  I realize that in every work place it is easy to look at what others are doing or not doing.  Saying hey way do they get away with that.  Yet I have learned that by doing this it doesn’t help us grow as a worker or as a person.  If we focus on our work and job at hand and worry about whether or not, we are truly working to our full potential we are going to improve ourselves.  Every so often I realize that I have begun to worry about what others are not doing and when that happens I never work to my full potential.  I come to realize that best place to be an example of Christ is at work, that I represent more than myself.  I represent Christ and His Church, I have to make sure that I am doing what I need to be doing at my job.  I should not be slacking or taking short cuts. I need to be working hard and when asked why I work so hard my answer should to bring glory to God. 

As I’m writing this I feel that there are many areas in which I can improve on in both my Jobs, I plan to do just that.  I plan to work hard, try my best to encourage others around me.  I want to be as Christ like as possible at work.  I understand work can be stressful and people don’t always do what we think they should. I realize that people get promoted by taking credit for work they didn’t do, but at the end of it all we must realize that we live in a broken world.  In this broken world we are going to come across all kinds of work problems and how we handle these problems are what is going to define us.  Are we going to be defined as, patient, kind, hardworking, encouragers, able to endure through tough times?  Or are we going to be, complainers, judgmental, and lazy?  We have choices in life, we can choose to work hard and bring glory to God, or we can choose to compare ourselves to others and just do enough.  Which will you choose?